Face 2 Face Sessions

Overwhelmed or Excited!?

Written by Vanessa Civan

overwhelmed_by_hauntedwordsDear Cohort21 Alumni and “Newbies”,
Saturday’s first F2F session was well… an unforgettable experience layered with many emotions. From nerves, to excitement, to possibility to well complete and utter overload! I write this inaugural blog post from a vulnerable yet reflective and motivated place in my professional development journey as an educator.

In Cohort21’s first Face to Face session of Season 4, I was immediately welcomed by kind, friendly, likeminded learners and educators from CIS Schools across Ontario. The library at Bayview Glen was beaming with positivity and hope for this years Cohort21 “students”. We got to know each other, collaborate and engaged in design thinking all before our first coffee even kicked in. Once our coffee did kick in, we were split into groups and rotated our way to new heights. From setting up our Cohort21 Blog, to learning the confusing ropes of Diigo, to understanding how to use curate in a sentence, to participating in a comical Google Hangout, to falling in love with Twitter! Questions and fascinations entered every crevasse of my mind faster than I could keep up with them!
What!? A Google Hangout can be live recorded and archived on Youtube?
There are actual Twitter chats that happen at scheduled times?!
What is Harkness discussions?
How long will it take me to master and implement everything I learned today?!

Every time I felt defeated by my own personal barrier, I was coached to empowerment, whether through an honest conversation with a Cohort21 Facilitator or by a shared experience with a new Cohort21 member. I quickly came to the realization that empoweredanything is possible by putting myself out there and that by being apart of Cohort21 and this professional community of likeminded educators, I can and will be okay!

So to keep myself on track and motivated, I will end every post with goals and dates to achieve them by.
For the goals below, I will complete them by November 21st (latest)
Goal 1: to familiarize myself with Diigo, Padlet, Twitter Chats and Kahoot
Goal 2: to redesign my blog
Goal 3: participate in 1 Twitter Chat
Goal 4: post 1 article to Diigo

Until next time…

6 thoughts on “Overwhelmed or Excited!?”

  2. Love the new blog theme. It didn’t take you long to find out how to change it. Thanks for sharing your first face to face reflection. Such great feedback for us.

  3. Hi Vanessa,

    So great to read this post and see your own growth and leanring from one (ONE!) day’s experience. It is evident that you have taken to this, and will add so much to the growth of the community – can you already picture yourself giving advice to new participants next year?!

    If you need any, and I mean ANY, support with your goals on adoption of the tools, don’t hesitate to ask. I’d gladly walk across ‘the moat’.

    Best,
    garth.

  4. I felt the same way at the start of my Cohort 21 experience 2 years ago! It can be overwhelming at times, but you (and I still!) Are surrounded by the most amazing and encouraging group of educators, who are looking out for you and cheering you along every step of the way.
    Enjoy the excitement, new connections and ideas!

  5. Vanessa I hope you will participate in our upcoming twitter chat! I can help you meet that goal on November 5th. 🙂
    It won’t take long for the tools to become second nature to you (at least as a participant… I’m a little worried about being a moderator!) I look forward to hearing about how it’s going at our next F2F!
    Ruth

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